A cool breeze flowed through the house. Autumn had hit the island harder this year than normal. While not getting cold by normal standards, it was a noticeable difference from the usual tropical heat. When Lilo woke up that morning, she noticed Stitch was missing. She grew increasingly worried as the day went on. He was still rather new to the island, and they didn't like him being out on his own. They weren't worried he would get hurt, they were worried that someone else would.

Jumba had brought to their attention that Stitch might revert back to his destructive programming at any time. It wasn't that long ago that he had been created, anything could be possible. Lilo however stood by the fact that Stitch was good. His badness level was at an all-time low, and was continuing to drop each day.

She put down her coloring book and looked out the living room window. A few birds flew by suddenly, startling her a bit. She let out a sigh, turning her record player up. The soft sounds of Elvis' voice filled the air, calming her worries a bit. Even if she fully believed in Stitch, she couldn't help but wonder where he had gone.

Lilo had begged Nani to let her go out to look for him, but she was told it would be best to wait for him at home. Nani had to go to work, so Jumba went out looking for him while Pleakley stayed home to watch over Lilo. Her sister assured her that it was more likely that he had just stepped out for a moment to see something and would soon return.

Lilo's face lit up when she finally heard the door burst open.

"Lilo?!" Stitch shouted as he frantically ran into the house. He instantly found her sitting by the couch and rushed to her side.

"Where did you go, Stitch?" Lilo asked, but it seemed like he hadn't heard her question. She only saw fear in his eyes as he took her hand and started pulling her to their room.

"Weega have to hide." He said. "Meega keep yuuga safe."

"Hide? What are we hiding from?"

"Kaphong!" Stitch burst out, slamming the entrance to their room, making sure it was locked.

"Kap…what?"

Lilo hadn't yet grasped Stitch's language. She had been trying her best, learning what she could from association. There were a few words she had started to understand, ones he used a lot. She knew he could speak English but preferred his own language, and so decided it would be better for her to learn his instead.

"Meega saw monsters out there." Stitch had begun to block the stairway to their room. Their dressers and desks did a fine job of making sure no one would be able to get up.

"Monsters?" Lilo became a little excited. She had always wanted to be a part of a horror movie. This was real life though, not one of the old cheesy films she and her dad used to watch together. She started to help barricade themselves off in whatever way they could.

After Stitch felt they were safely secured, he took a quick look out the window. There was no way he was going to let a monster get at Lilo while he was on the watch.

"Looks clear." He said, hoping down from the window and joining Lilo under their bunk bed. "Meega naga see any monsters around here."

"What's going on?" Lilo asked, the fear starting to take hold of her. "Where did you go? What kind of monsters are out there?"

Stitch hesitated for a moment. He didn't want Lilo to be scared, but he knew she was a strong girl, despite her size. They were up almost every day watching scary movies. He was sure that if anyone could handle what he had witnessed, it would be her.

"Meega woke up and yuuga were still asleep." He began, recounting his actions from the early morning. "Meega waited but yuuga naga wake up. Then meega smelled something strange coming from outside. It smelled like vegetables, but naga one meega ever smelled before."

Lilo wasn't sure what this had to do with monsters, but she hung off every word. She was at least happy to know he wasn't off doing anything bad.

"When meega got to town, everything looked strange. Like one of the movies weega would watch. Meega found the odd smell. There was these big round orange things everywhere. They were butifa big." He put his arms out as wide as he could. "Meega was about to eat hakkiah when meega saw the monsters. Meega ran back home as fast as meega could. Isa naga safe out there."

As Stitch was finishing his story, a sudden realization came over Lilo. "Oh no! Nani and Jumba are out there right now. What if the monsters get them? We have to save them, before it's too late."

Stitch hesitated at first. His job was to make sure that Lilo was safe. After letting her get captured by Gantu, he made it his sole duty to protect her and not let anything bad happen to her again. However, to leave Nani and Jumba out there would mean utter doom.

"'Ohana means family." He repeated to himself.

"Nobody gets left behind."

The two started working on unblocking the door. They were going to need to do a full rescue operation to rescue their family members. Hope filled their hearts that it wasn't already too late.

Un-piling the stuff from their room, Lilo picked up her 'strange desert animal' calendar. Doing what little she could to help once again. As she placed it down, something caught her eye. The picture of the month was a jerboa standing on top of a jack-o-lantern. Seeing the picture got her thinking.

"Hey, Stitch?" She asked, interrupting him as he lifted their full bookcase. "What did these big orange things look like?"

"Um…" He began, scratching his head as he thought about it. "Like a beach ball with a green stick on top."

"Kind of like this?" Lilo pointed to the picture on her calendar.

"Ih. Ih. Exactly like that."

Lilo looked back to the calendar as Stitch continued dismantling their barrier. Going over the days, she finally found the one she was looking for. October thirty-first had a huge circle around it in red pen. She started to laugh, her joyous realization quickly reaching Stitch's ears.

"Gaba funny?" Stitch asked, setting down the table as carefully as he could.

"There's no monsters out there, Stitch." Lilo giggled. "Tomorrow's Halloween! With everything that's happened I almost forgot."

Stitch titled his head in confusion. "Halloween?"

"You haven't heard of…? Okay. We need to educate you." Lilo went to the bookcase Stitch had just recently put back, and quickly found the book she was looking for. She motioned for Stitch to sit next to her as she began leafing through the pages. "Halloween is the best holiday of the year, except for Elvis' birthday. Long live the king."

"Long live the king." Stitch repeated.

"Halloween is the time of year where people celebrate monsters, the dead, and all things spooky and scary. They dress up like vampires, werewolves, zombies, ghosts, anything and everything!" She pointed to a group of trick-or-treaters on one of the pages. "Kids get to go door to door and ask for candy. You really need to plan ahead to get all the good stuff. Or else you get stuck with those yucky ones. Or even worse, vegetables."

"Naga." Stitch gasped.

"Yes. There's also a lot of fun traditions too. My favorite is carving pumpkins. Those things you saw in town. You carve them and leave them on your door step to ward off evil spirits."

Stitch took the book from Lilo and started looking through all the pictures. Each page showed people having tons of fun. He looked up at the room around him, still in a rather messy state.

"Meega do bad." He said as his ears dropped.

"You didn't do bad." Lilo told him. "You were just looking out for me. Thank you." She gave him a kiss on the nose, bringing his spirits up. "Did you want to dress up too?"

Stitch nodded enthusiastically. "Ih."

It didn't take long for Lilo to find clothes for their costumes. She never threw out anything that she thought was creepy and cool. She lost most of her costumes when the house blew up, but there were still a few things. She always felt that simple was the best way to go anyway. A suit jacket, cape, necklace, robe, and a witch's hat was all she needed for their perfect costumes.

"There. You make an amazing Dracula." Lilo said, holding a mirror for Stitch to see him in his vampire costume.

Stitch smiled greatly, he had no idea there were such fun traditions. "Yuga make a great witch."

"You think?" Lilo asked as she twirled. "Maybe I could cast a spell on Myrtle and turn her into a frog."

The two burst out laughing at the thought of Lilo casting a spell on Myrtle. They would certainly enjoy the look on her face as she turned into a warty old toad. Sadly, they wouldn't get to see it, but it was fun to imagine.

"Weega go trick-or-treating now?" Stitch asked, wanting to go have fun like the kids in Lilo's book.

"No. Not yet." Lilo said. "You have to wait until the last night of the month. That's when we get the candy. We can do something else though."

Lilo took Stitch back into town. This time around, he wasn't scared or worried about seeing people dressed up like monsters. Everywhere they looked, Halloween decorations littered the shops and streets. Skeletons, cobwebs, giant fake spiders, and tombstones had taken over their small town. Truly, Lilo's favorite part of the holiday was that she could be herself without anyone calling her weird. At this time of year it was normal to dress up and like the scary and creepy things. It made her feel like she belonged.

Stitch was lost in wonder at the transformation their home had taken. Now that he took a closer look, it was clear everyone was just wearing costumes. He felt a little silly for thinking that they were really monsters. That feeling was completely washed away by the smell of the pumpkins returning to him.

"Aloha, Mrs. Hasegawa." Lilo said, dodging the old lady's water hose as she turned around.

Squinting through her spectacles, the woman managed to make out Lilo's face. "Aloha, Lilo. A little early for trick-or-treating isn't it."

"Everyone's already dressed up though."

"They are?" She asked shocked. "I haven't noticed."

"Do you have any pumpkins left? It's Stitch's first Halloween so I want him to get the full experience."

"Pumpkins?" Mrs. Hasegawa thought for a moment. "Ah yes. Here you go." She handed Lilo a little pumpkin from her vegetable stand. "Enjoy!"

"Um…" Lilo looked at the tiny pumpkin. "Thanks Mrs. Hasegawa. But I was hoping for something a little larger."

"Larger?"

"Yeah. For, you know, carving and stuff."

"Why didn't you say so?" She gave a toothy grin, pointing to behind her shop. "All the big ones are in the back. Go help yourself to whichever you like."

Lilo and Stitch ran around back as fast as they could. Once they got there, their hearts leapt. It was like a small field of orange. Pumpkins everywhere, even stacked on top of each other. All it needed was to rain candy and they'd be in Halloween heaven.

After a couple hours of playing in the small pumpkin patch, Lilo let Stitch pick out a pumpkin for them to take. Along the way home, they ran into Jumba who had been looking for Stitch the entire day. He was out of breath, and it looked like he was hiding in the trees.

"Little girl! Six-two-six!" Jumba whispered from his hiding spot.

"Jumba?" Stitch asked, titling his head.

"What are you doing behind a tree?" Lilo finished for her friend.

"My Earth disguise is not working." He explained. "People keep running up and are telling me I have an amazing costume. Somehow I have been found out. We need to hurry before I am being taken away and experimented on like in your movies." Jumba's worries were quickly made light of by the two's laughter. "What is so funny?"

Along the way home, Lilo explained to him the concept of Halloween. As well that the people weren't talking about his disguise, but that he looked like a real alien. Jumba wasn't as interested in the holiday as Stitch was. He did find the concept of trick-or-treating fun though.

"So it is allowed to go around tricking people?" Jumba chuckled as ideas filled his mind. "This might be best holiday yet."

It was a long wait until nightfall. It felt even longer with the anticipation for the next day. That would be when the real fun began. Before that though, Lilo had a plan for the pumpkin they had picked out that afternoon. What she didn't know was that Stitch had his own plan. She had just finished carving the small pumpkin as an example for the larger one before meeting Stitch outside.

"Where's all the carving stuff?" Lilo asked, holding her small jack-o-lantern. Nani had told them to do the big one outside so they wouldn't make too big of a mess indoors, it was Stitch's job to bring the tools after Lilo cleaned up everything else inside.

"Meega had an idea."

With that, Stitch pulled out one of Jumba's plasma guns. Lilo looked confused until Stitch turned and shot at the pumpkin. In a matter of moments it was transformed into a green glowing jack-o-lantern unlike one Lilo had ever seen before.

Finished with his work, Stitch covered his face with his cape and raised his eyebrows in the best impression of Dracula that he could manage. "Gaba yuuga think?"

"It's the best jack-o-lantern I've ever seen!" Lilo placed the tiny jack-o-lantern on top of Stitch's, liking the idea of a one giving the other a piggy back ride. "Everyone is going to be completely jealous. If they come that is…" She saw Stitch tilt his head, curious by her words. "It's nothing. This is going to be the best Halloween of all time!"

"Stitch do good?"

"Stitch did great."

She gave him a kiss on the nose. "Happy Halloween, Stitch."

"Happy Halloween, Lilo."

Lilo started running back to the house. "Come on! We need to plan out our route tomorrow. We don't want to be stuck with all the bad candy."

Stitch took one last long look at his pumpkin. He was still new to this world, and he didn't understand everything it had to hold just yet. But he was learning, and having a lot of fun with Lilo along the way.